The Historic Downtown Snoqualmie Foundation presented the owners of Down to Earth Flowers + Gifts with a garden bird bath as a tribute to the shop’s founder Mary Alice “Maggi” Whitaker.

Whitaker, a notable figure in the Snoqualmie community for several decades, died Aug. 6.

Dorie Ross, president of the Historic Downtown Snoqualmie Merchants Association, decided to surprise Whitaker’s family with a locally made stone bird bath engraved with “Maggi’s Garden.”

“She was absolutely pivotal in downtown,” Ross said. “There’s a lot of businesses that have been rooted here for years, and I think it’s very important that we honor that.”

The bird bath was made by Marenakos Rock Center in Preston. In the warmer months, birds will splash around in it, and Whitaker’s daughters plan on planting her favorite flowers nearby, like zinnias.

The shop is now cared for by Whitaker’s husband, Bill Whitaker, and their daughters, Alice Friedel, Jenny Whitaker and Ann Marie Whitaker. All family members, including Friedel’s daughter Violet, were present Dec. 5 when the stone was placed in the garden behind Down to Earth, Whitaker’s favorite spot.

“It’s overwhelming to see all the business owners rally around my mom,” Friedel said. “What a perfect tribute. It’s just so fitting, and we’re going to enjoy it for many years.”

Whitaker opened Down to Earth in 2000 where The Bindlestick cafe now resides. When the shop moved to its current location, Whitaker told the Snoqualmie Valley Record she planned to clean up the courtyard and plant a garden for all to enjoy.

“Just to be able to sit in a garden. That’s my dream,” she said in 2011.

Several of Whitaker’s fellow shop owners were present during the bird bath’s placement. When asked about Whitaker, those who knew her speak of her compassionate demeanor — she had “the ability to make anybody feel almost immediately comfortable,” said friend Judy Eib, and “cared about everybody equally,” Jenny Whitaker said.

“She kind of thought [the shop] was going to be more about flowers, and then she quickly learned that it is so much more about helping people connect,” Friedel said. “People would come in, happy times, sad times, and she would walk through these hard or happy things with them.”

Before opening Down to Earth, Whitaker was a founding member of Mountain View School, a small private school in Snoqualmie that her daughters attended. There, she met Eib, a Mountain View teacher who went on to become a Down to Earth flower delivery driver — and she still is, 17 years later.

“A lot of people, me included, are probably inspired [by Maggi] to be kindhearted and giving and positive and joyful and make life a better place,” Eib said. “All you have to do is think of her and just think, ‘I can do better. I can be more like Maggi.’”

The family of Maggi Whitaker stands for a photo after being gifted Down to Earth’s new bird bath. From left: Bill Whitaker, Ann Marie Whitaker, Violet Friedel, Jenny Whitaker and Alice Friedel. (Grace Gorenflo/Valley Record)

A Marenakos Rock Center employee lowers the bird bath into its new home at Down to Earth.

Down to Earth’s new bird bath, in honor of the shop’s late owner Maggi Whitaker, is engraved with “Maggi’s Garden.”